Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Writer), Christopher Sebella (Writer), Dexter Soy (Artist), Richard Elson (Artist), Will Quintana (Artist), Karl Nesel (Artist), Javier Rodriguez (Artist), AI. Barridnuevo (Artist), Emma Rios (Artist), Alvero Lopez (Artist), Veronicqa Gandini (Colorist), Filipe Andade (Artist), and VC's Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

This volume collects issues #1-12 and begins with Carol Danvers and Captain America fighting Absorption Man and having a discussion as to why she won't go by the name Captain Marvel.  The main reason is that she doesn't feel right about using the dead alien who saved her life's name as her own.  She doesn't feel worthy.

Carol takes care of Tracy, an older woman who has cancer and whom Carol used to work for.  Tracy is a tough bird who doesn't believe she needs to be taken care of but secretly likes it and depends on it.  If she can't make it there's a young woman that she sends in her place and the two of them get along like cats and dogs.

Helen Cobb was a legend in the field of flight. She was one of the women trained as astronauts at the same time as the first ones, like Alan Shepherd and John Glenn, and outperformed all of them.  She was the one who pushed to get women that chance. She was the one who also pushed to get women the chance to fly during World War II.  She broke five records in her T-6 plane.

Now Helen has died and Carol takes her ashes up into the outer atmosphere of space. Helen has left Carol her T-6 plane and has asked that she prove that one of the records she broke with it, that has been in question, really stands by flying it herself.  When she does something strange happens.  After she breaks the record and decides to see how far she can go, suddenly the instruments stop working and the plane is going down.

When she lands there are Japanese soldiers there ready to capture her. She believes them to be holdovers from the war who refused to believe that it was over.  Instead, she is rescued by a group of women calling themselves the Banshee Squad class of 1943.  It seems the Japanese have what they call prowlers but are in actuality small Kree fighters.  Carol doesn't want to upset the timeline but when she hears about the Kree weaponry she has no choice and reveals what she can do and when she comes from.  She finds that the women also crash landed on this tiny island off the coast of Peru.

Carol finds a piece of an alien element and sees her plane flying overhead.  First, she must help these women defeat the Japanese and then she will go on a long journey through multiple time jumps beginning with one where she meets Helen Cobb in the 1960s and the two of them jump together to try to fix the time problem. Or at least that's what Carol's plan is.

There's another comic in there where she fights alongside Monica, aka "Photon" or "Pulsar" with the friendly Frank in tow out on the sea looking at mysterious shipwrecks.  In another comic, when Tony Stark hacks her phone and rearranges her schedule in order to fit in a visit from a friend of his, she's not happy. But then her day does not go as planned, big surprise.  What is a surprise is to find out that she has a lesion on her brain that means she cannot fly anymore.  Someone has sent one of her oldest enemies out to continuously attack her for some reason.  Who is Captain Marvel if she cannot fly?

This is a great book that explores Carol's inner nature and her desire to live up to the name of Captain Marvel. Also, her drive to be the best pilot there is and her sadness that she can't break any more records for herself and have it be fair.  Then there's her losing the ability to fly and what that does to her. She's been able to fly up into the earth's atmosphere and back without breaking a sweat. Now she can't even fly the height of a building.  A different artist was chosen for these comics and it was a wise choice. The Carol in these comics looks a bit haggard and vulnerable, not quite so strong and formidable.  Overall this book was really worth reading and I highly recommend it.   

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Who Is Wonder Woman? by Allan Heinberg (Writer), Terry Dodson ({Penciler), Rachel Dodson (Inker), Alex Sinclair (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer), Gary Frank (Artist), Jon Sibal (Artist), and Dave McCaig (Artist)

After killing Maxwell Lord in self-defense, Wonder Woman steps down from the job and gives it to her "sister", Donna Troy.  But everyone is having a hard time accepting her as Wonder Woman and when she arrives at a museum she runs into Cheetah and Giganta who both want Diana. Diana, who has been following Donna around appears and fights with them but leaves when she realizes she is capable of killing them.  Donna is left behind for Dr. Psycho to work his magic on her mind and takes her with him.

Batman suggests to Diana that she go undercover and work for the Metahumans Affairs, who police those who are not humans.  She works with Nemesis, a master of disguise who does not believe he needs a partner.  They'll release Donna in exchange for Wonder Woman.  Only Diana cannot go blindly into a trap.  She needs help with this and the Metahumans Affairs don't seem interested so she must try the JSA, of whom Cassie, Wonder Girl, is not too fond of her right now.

This comic is really good in that is shows how Wonder Woman goes from being so harshly judgemental on herself about the death of Maxwell Lord and deserting her friends and family to deal with the fact that she had taken a human life, a death that had not been sanctioned by the gods.  This book shows how she claws her way out of that hole.  It proves how even the mighty Wonder Woman can falter but still find her way back.  Who is Wonder Woman?  I do believe this comic answers that question with gorgeous artistry.

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Who-New/dp/1401272339/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514375536&sr=8-1&keywords=who+is+wonder+woman

 

I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen

In this latest Rizzoli and Isles mystery, the book opens with the death of a young woman Cassandra Coyle who is lying in her bed with her eyeballs in her hand.  When Maura Isles does the autopsy she finds no cause of death. There is a little bit of wine in her stomach so she had a drink right before she died.  Cassandra was a filmmaker who made horror movies.  Well, she'd made one and was working on finishing another one that was based on something that happened in her childhood.

Then on Christmas Eve Timothy McDougal is found propped up against a pole at the docks with his shirt off and three arrows sticking out of his chest. But the arrows were shot into him after he was already dead.  His body was healthy and Maura could find no cause of death, just some whiskey in his stomach. Cassandra's tox screen came back with a little bit of ketamine in her system. But only enough to knock her out, not kill her. And ketamine comes back in Timothy's tox screen as well.

That's when Maura gets the idea of how they might have died from the Heaven's Gate people.  By placing a plastic bag over the face. She does find residue of tape on Timothy's neck, but no signs of bruising that would show that force was used or a fight like he was being restrained.  She also figures out why they were displayed the way they were. Cassandra was displayed as St. Lucy and Timothy was displayed as St. Sebastion.

The question is why and is there more?  Maura goes to Daniel, the priest with whom she had a long affair with but broke it off over six months ago, for help with the case which is hard on both of them.  Also Maura's birth mother, a serial killer, who is dying in jail and is reaching out to Maura and she goes to see her say goodbye, but her mother is not done with her manipulations.  Maura goes through a lot in this book and Jane is trying to be there for her if Maura would just let her.  This is a really good book with lots of twists.  While the plot is great it's the characters that you read it for and what they are going through and how they are dealing with what is going on around them and Gerritsen excels at this, as this book shows.  I highly recommend this book.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Know-Secret-Rizzoli-Isles-Novel-ebook/dp/B01MXRA7WD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514213411&sr=8-1&keywords=i+know+a+secret+by+tess+gerritsen

Suicide Squad: The New 52! Volume 2 Basilisk Rising by Adam Glass (Writer), Dan Abnett (Writer), Andy Lanning (Writer), Fernando Dagnino (Artist), Federico Dalliocchio (Artist), Jesus Siaz (Artist), Andres Guinaldo (Artist), Mark Irwin (Artist), Christian Alamy (Artist), Cliff Richards (Artist), Matt Yackey (Colorist), John Kalisz (Colorist), Jared K. Fletcher (Letterer), and Rob Leigh (Letterer)

At the end of the last book, Harley Quinn tried to take over the prison and escape to go to the police station and get the Joker's face that the cops had. She shot Deadshot and as a result, his aim is now off.  Lime is dead, King Shark ate Yo-Yo Man and Boomerang is no longer with them.  Harley ended up in a coma and the team is on ice for now.

Harley Quinn wakes up from the coma with the identity of Doctor Harleen Quninzel mostly in charge.  But there's no rest for the wicked and they're immediately sent out on a mission. When they return the real work begins and the toughest foe they've ever faced is coming their way.  Waller wants them to go after Basilik the head of an army of followers of criminals.

Light, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Iceman, Diablo, and Black Spider (a civilian vigilante ninja) head out with others on a plane but the plane is sabotaged.  Deadshot had been warned by Waller that there is a traitor on the team. Someone has been feeding info to the Basilik  But that's the only info Waller shares with the team. As usual, she keeps important information they need back and leaves them to be surprised when they get there.

Of course, they have to get there first. They come across some Mayans who practice the ancient art of sacrificing to their gods and have no idea how to get out of this situation.  This volume was even better than the first one. You get to know Waller better and find out how the Suicide Squad was formed.  Harley's acting like a psychiatrist some of the time and not her usual wacko self and you don't know who to trust. I highly recommend this book.

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Squad-Vol-Basilisk-Rising-ebook/dp/B00BC8IPBK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513954907&sr=8-1&keywords=suicide+squad+new+52+vol+2

Wilde In Love by Eloisa James

Set in June of 1778 at Lindow Castle in Cheshire, England the house is celebrating the engagement of the eldest son of the Duke, North, to Diana Belfast and the return of the second oldest son, Alaric who has been gone for five years exploring the world and writing about his observations, using his last name of Wilde in the titles, such as Wilde Latitudes. In his absence, he has become something of a celebrity and an obsession to many of the young ladies, mainly due to a play put on about one of his adventures that was wildly inaccurate.  His family thinks it's hilarious to a degree.  Some of his teen siblings have had to put up with mishaps from others, though.

Someone who doesn't think it's hilarious, besides Alaric, is the proper Miss Wilomena "Willa" Everett Ffynche.  She believes in keeping a private life and has no intention of being one of many. She also hasn't read any of his books.  She prefers non-fiction books such as Pliny, not the fiction she is sure his books to be.  She is prepared to meet Lord Wilde but quite unprepared to meet Alaric the man behind the facade.  He is also intrigued to meet a woman who is not fawning at his feet.

Willa's best friend, Lavina Gray, with whom she was raised since the age of nine when her parents died, has been obsessed with Lord Wilde and has his picture plastered all over her room. But when she meets him she realizes he wasn't at all what she thought he'd be but decides he might make a fine friend instead.  Parth Sterling, an orphan raised on the Duke's estate with his children has made a vast fortune for himself.  While he and Willa hit it off great, he and Lavina fight like cats and dogs. It's quite interesting to watch the two of them go at it. At times more interesting than the main story.

At first, Willa feels as though she is being treated like a mountain that Alaric feels the need to conquer because she is a challenge, not because he truly cares for her.  Then, of course, there's the matter of all of his adoring fans clamoring around him. Willa cannot consider a man for marriage that she could not have a private life with or one that was being chased by half the women in England.  On top of that, she does not believe him when he says that he is done with exploring and plans to settle down at his estate.

But there's no denying what his kisses do to her and Alaric can be quite persuasive. And when an opportunity arises that involves them pretending to be engaged he takes advantage of it to do some more convincing.  This was a good book and that had some unusual elements to it. It's not often you find a man giving a woman a skunk for a gift. Also, it's not often you encounter a scene of a man masturbating.  But, a lovemaking scene would not be happening for a long time because Willa was a proper young woman and it was a creative way to get in a sex scene.   This was a good start to a series that I eagerly await the next book for which should be about North and Diana if the ending is any indication and cannot come soon enough. 

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wilde-Love-Wildes-Lindow-Castle-ebook/dp/B01MYDK4ME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513776862&sr=8-1&keywords=wilde+in+love

The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The book opens in Swindon, England with an autistic young man, Christopher Boone, discovering a poodle that had been murdered with a fork (garden tool) stuck through it.  Christopher finds himself getting arrested when he has trouble answering their questions and hit a police officer when the officer grabs him, as Christopher does not like to be touched.  Due to his autism and the circumstances he is given a caution and told that this must never happen again or he would go to jail.

Something else Christopher does not like is the colors yellow and brown.  He does not like loud noises.  He does like the color red and dyes yellow food red so he can eat it.  He loves to count prime numbers and work math problems in his head especially to calm himself down.  He plans on taking his maths A levels and physics A levels this year and go to a university someday.   He lives with his dad and his mom died a year and a half ago or so.

Christopher is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and decides to find out who killed the poodle, Wellington.  His teacher at his special school, Siobhan, encourages him in this endeavor and having him write it down in a notebook.  When his father finds out about it he tells him to stay out of other people's business. But Christopher takes people at their literal word and he does not know what to make of that, so he keeps going and goes around asking people in the neighboorhood questions.  When his dad becomes more specific and tells him to stop investigating the Wellington death, Christopher has already got a suspect: Mr. Spears, the owner's ex-husband.  So he decides to ask around about Mr. Spears since that's not asking about Wellington.  He ends up finding out more about Mr. Spears than he expected.

When his dad finds his notebook and reads what he has written he becomes quite angry and throws it away.  When Christopher goes to look for it in the dustbin it isn't there so he searches the house and finds it in a box in his dad's room along with some letters from his mom written after her death.  His dad has been lying to him about a lot of things and in Christopher's world, you don't lie.  Christopher reacts recklessly to the new information that has come to light.

Christopher is not an easy young man to take care of as a parent.  The closest his parents get to a hug is touching his palm to theirs for a second.  But he is easy to love. Christopher's detecting the death of a dog named Wellington will lead him down a path he could never imagine.  Will he find out who killed Wellington? Will he be able to trust his father again? What will become of him and his rat Toby? This is an excellent read and a very accurate portrayal of someone with autism.  The title comes from a Sherlock Holmes story where he solves the mystery because the dog does not bark in the nighttime because he knew the culprit.  It fits in nicely with Christopher's love of Holmes and the mystery of the dog's death.  I highly recommend this book.   

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time-Contemporaries-ebook/dp/B000FC1MCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513602658&sr=8-1&keywords=the+curious+incident+of+the+dog+in+the+nighttime    

Captain America: Sam Wilson #Take Back the Shield by Nick Spencer (Writer), Paul Renaud (Artist, Colorist), Angel Unzeta (Artist), Szymon Kudranski (Artist), John Rauch (Colorist), and VC's Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

When we last left Captain America, Sam Wilson, he was sharing the duties of Captain America with Steve Rogers. There was a strong movement going to get him to stop being Captain America especially after he tussled with the Americops when he was trying to stop Rage from causing a bigger problem. Of course, his peacemaking attempts didn't play that way in the press because the Americops tried to arrest him and he had to fight his way and escape.  He decided to have Tony Stark implant a device in his brain that would enable him to see and record everything the birds see. So when the Americops overstep their bounds again, there will be proof.

He also goes up against John Walker, U.S. Agent, who was sent to get him to return the shield by none other than Captain America himself.  But he promised he wouldn't tell Sam that, only that he needed to return it because it was time.  Captain America knows he cannot ask Sam right out to give back the shield and he can't do so publically because it would look bad if a white guy is demanding that a black guy stop being a superhero.

Flag Smasher has taken a roomful of people hostage including Senator Tom Herald whom he has strapped a bomb too.  He has planted seven bombs in the room and seven cyber bombs in the federal network.  Rick Jones, hacker extraordinaire who now works with S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping an eye on the goings-on of the security of the major players of the Feds and he just noticed that someone was trying to breach them.  For each data bomb that Rick succeeds in diffusing, Flag Buster blows up a bomb in the room.  When the last one doesn't work, he threatens to kill Herald.  Sam throws his shield to knock the gun out of his hand and misses.  Flag Buster kills the Senator.  Sam can't believe that he missed causing the death of a man who has so been against him.  This really does not play well in the press.

While Sam is trying to get his head back in the game, you get a story from Misty that kicks ass, of course, and one from the Falcon.  Also included is an old-time Captain America comic that includes Dennis during his heyday as Demolition Dumphy and his meeting up with Battlestar for the first time in a not so friendly way.  This comic moves the plot forward, but it also gives Sam a break and gives Misty and Falcon a time to shine, which is really cool.  It further shows how far Steve Rogers will go to get to be Captain America again which is chilling and makes you realize the right man is using the shield.  I really love this series and this book just shows how far they're willing to take it.  I can't recommend it enough. 

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Captain-America-Wilson-Vol-TakeBackTheShield/dp/1302903292/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513343718&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=captain+america+sam+wilsoon+volume+four